Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka. Photo/ademide25
Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has said the Nigeria presidency should go to the southeast region to heal from the wounds of the civil war.
Soyinka, the first Black Nobel Laureate in Literature, spoke in an interview with Channels Television’s Roadmap 2023, which aired on Monday.
The Nigerian civil war lasted for three years between 1967 and 1970 after the southeast declared the independence of Biafra. More than one million died in the war according to an estimate.
Over 50 years after the end of the war, separatist agitators in the region are still pushing for independence, highlighting the festering sore caused by the war.
As reported by The Guardian, to heal from the civil war, Soyinka suggested that the presidency going to the southeast will help to “rewrite the history”.
“It is not just about reconstruction, it is also about rewriting of history,” Soyinka said in an interview aired on Channels Television on Monday.
“We believe that to close the circle of negativity, that we have embarked on before and during the civil war, I believe, the presidency, as soon as possible, should go towards the eastern region which lost a war.
“This is one of the ways to heal the wounds of the nation – that is a principle and philosophy.”
Soyinka, an advocate of restructuring, reechoed his stance that Nigeria should be restructured.
The Nobel Laureate, who spoke on the buildup and aftermath of the 2023 election, said none of the leading presidential candidates provided a believable agenda for restructuring, hence, the reason he did not endorse anyone.
“In fact one of the reasons I refused to endorse any candidate is because none of the candidates addressed the things closest to my heart, like again, reconstructing the nation,” Soyinka said.
“I did not see any genuine commitment, any believable agenda about restructuring, decentralization of Nigeria which is at the heart of the problem for me at the moment.
“People were more concerned with just aiming for power.”
Soyinka stated that he disagrees with criticisms that Nigeria is yet to fully understand democracy following the conduct of the 2023 election.
“I do not think we do not understand democracy, certain stakes have been catapulted to the fore and over – have come to overwhelm what should be the real stuffing of the democratic process,” Soyinka said.
“We can still come back to that phase where we had a common purpose that enough of military rule, I’m talking about June 12, and demonstrated, not just to ourselves but to the whole world.
“Yes, we know what democracy is and we know how to practice it and unfortunately, we seem not to have succeeded in reaching that level of democratic concert that we exhibited when said, look, let us take back our own political violation and get rid of the Kaki boys and we can still come back to it.”
He, however, noted that the result of the election showed that a “point has been scored” and “people now know the power they have and the youths have woken up.”
In its version, titled “Soyinka expresses disappointment in 2023 polls”, The Punch reports that Soyinka expressed his disappointment regarding the recently-concluded 2023 elections.
The author said the polls were “not exactly the most edifying exercise that we’ve been through.”
He revealed that although he had been out of the country for some months, the news he met on his return was “horrendous” and unpleasant.
“On arriving, I came in for the World Poetry Day, and immediately, I was bombarded by the most horrendous narratives both pre and after the elections,” he said.
“Since then, I’ve also read columns; I’ve seen Nigerian papers for the first time in months and I didn’t like what I read at all.”
The playwright further stated that his trust in the system has “broken down completely” especially as politicians could not exercise “restraints” in their actions.
“My trust has broken down completely and even the minimum restraint that we’ve learned to expect from seasoned politicians has been jettisoned completely,” he continued.
Quoting the current Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, Soyinka stated that even though elections are contests, they should be carried out like festivals.
“Elections should be keenly contested. But I still believe very much in what I call the Fashola Dictum.
“They should be yet another aspect of the festive spirit of humanity – and this was anything but festive,” he said.
The Presidential and National Assembly elections which were held on February 25, as well as the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections which were held in March 2023, were marred by reports of widespread violence, voter intimidation, and logistics issues among others.
In its version titled “2023 elections: Why I did not endorse any candidate – Soyinka”, Vanguard reports that the Nobel laureate explained why he did not endorse any candidate in the 2023 elections.
He described the 2023 elections as “not exactly the most edifying exercise that we’ve been through.”
Sonyinka noted that he preferred not to make comments on the electoral process as he was away, though he says it does not mean he was ignorant of what was happening on the home front.
He said the nation was moving towards a situation, which was not planned, but one that happened fortuitously where the existing mould was going to be broken.
“And the signs were there that there would be die-hard opposition to the breaking of that mould,” he said. “Elections should be keenly contested.”
The Nigeria Lawyers titled its version “Nigerians Will Not Cease Demanding Restructuring — Prof Soyinka”, where it reports Soyinka saying that Nigerians will not stop demanding restructuring of the Nigerian federation.
The elder statesman’s comment is coming ahead of the inauguration of the new administration on May 29.
Soyinka said the government of President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, must place a renewed focus on the persistent calls for restructuring, otherwise, its programmes and policies will face serious challenges.
He said, “Whomever it is must understand that the people of this country will not cease demanding a restructuring of this nation.
“New voices are being heard and they are more powerful than before. They are not just whining voices, they are voices based on actualities. We have failed in so many directions and they are saying, ‘Let us try in this direction’ and you cannot ignore it.
“Otherwise, even your economic policies will fail, your infrastructure and transformation will fail. We will just go back threading the same old spur.”
According to Soyinka, a mould has been broken during the just concluded elections.
Recall that there have been several calls for restructuring of the Nigerian federation, whereby the government will be brought closer to the people at the grassroots.
Soyinka, according to NaijaNews, suggested that the presidency going to the southeast will help to “rewrite the history.”
He said: “It is not just about reconstruction, it is also about rewriting of history.
“We believe that to close the circle of negativity that we have embarked on before and during the civil war, I believe, the presidency, as soon as possible, should go towards the eastern region which lost a war.
“This is one of the ways to heal the wounds of the nation – that is a principle and philosophy.”
According to the playwright, none of the leading presidential candidates in the just-concluded polls provided a believable agenda for restructuring, hence, he did not endorse anyone.
Soyinka said: “In fact, one of the reasons I refused to endorse any candidate is because none of the candidates addressed the things closest to my heart, like again, reconstructing the nation.
“I did not see any genuine commitment, any believable agenda about restructuring, decentralization of Nigeria which is at the heart of the problem for me at the moment.
In its version titled “Media Responsibility in a Time of civic uncertainty, By Wole Soyinka”, Premium Times reports
the Nobel laureate saying: “I hope Channels plans to provide the entire interview. After months of having to endure total fabrications of partisan utterances that are strange to me, even in their very choice of words, it is most aggravating to have this, the first I have conceded in my authenticated person, casually subjected to selective editing and dissemination.
“What I have read – at least, thus far – this morning, extracted from a one-and-a-half long interview, conducted a week ago with Channels Television, brings once more to the fore, the critical responsibility of the media in transmitting the spoken, even recorded – word to the public. This is especially crucial in a time of civic uncertainty. When remarks are taken out of context, spliced into a new one, provided a sensational headline, distortions become stamped on public receptivity, and the central intent of one’s remarks becomes completely unrecognisable.
“I denounced the menacing utterances of a vice-presidential aspirant as unbecoming. It was a gladiatorial challenge directed at the judiciary and, by implication, the rest of the democratic polity. But what on earth has happened to my even more urgent condemnation of the physical violence inflicted on those designated “strangers” in Lagos in the lead up to, and during governorship elections? This prejudicial selectivity is a betrayal of trust, and I find it contemptuous of public deserving. My critique of incipient fascism in the movement remains grounded in indisputable evidence. Throughout the interview, I continued to stress that the final word had yet to be pronounced on the elections – that omission renders the full message tendentious!
“My rejection of fascism is nothing new. On three occasions, I was able to send a message to Peter Obi that if he lost the election, it would be his followers who lost it for him. It was depressing to watch his lieutenant, a crucially positioned voice of a movement that has “broken the mould”, threaten the totality of social existence. Whatever our ideological leaning, is Donald Trump the ideal template for a burgeoning democracy in the nation?
“On a minor note, I remain concerned by the alleged complaint by me of people not following “instructions”. If words are garbled in recording, the speaker can be reached for clarification – else, simply leave out the unclear section completely to avoid misrepresentation. After all, piecemeal transmission is legitimate proceeding, as long as a part is not presented as the whole. I am not a member of the Labour Party, so how can giving ‘instructions’ become my role? Like a number of others, I have admittedly contributed to the making of this moment – going back several years – and it is painful to have the followers of such a movement, send it slithering backwards and down the fascistic slope.
“I hope Channels plans to provide the entire interview. After months of having to endure total fabrications of partisan utterances that are strange to me, even in their very choice of words, it is most aggravating to have this, the first I have conceded in my authenticated person, casually subjected to selective editing and dissemination.
“Let us play by the rules of mutual obligation, or else abandon public discourse altogether.”
